Famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich spearheaded the government’s response to the toxic Ohio train derailment two weeks ago on Fox News on Friday night.
“There’s something they’re not telling us,” Brockovich told host Tucker Carlson.
Brockovich, an environmental advocate and consultant whose work fighting Pacific Gas & Electric was adapted into the 2000 film starring Julia Roberts, said she was deeply concerned that the community had been receiving “terrible mixed messages” about water security.
“It is certainly of concern to the people of East Palestine. We’ve been pushing for a month now and they still have no answers. It’s very obvious that something really went wrong out here,” Brockovich said.
Earlier that evening, she hosted a town hall meeting with the people of East Palestine, Ohio, and described the situation as unlike anything she had seen in more than 30 years.
“I feel your fear and I feel your frustration,” she told the assembled crowd Friday night.
Brockovich later went to Fox News to candidly state that “there’s something they’re not telling us” after the toxic train derailment two weeks ago
“It’s not a quick fix. It’s going to be a long game.”
“You have symptoms, you have problems. You want to be heard, but you’re told it’s safe. Well that’s just rubbish! You want to be seen and you want to be heard. I have never experienced anything like the situation in East Palestine in 30 years.
“I’m also here to tell you that Superman isn’t coming. No one is coming to change what happened to you, magically fix what happened to you, or give you all the answers,” Brockovich said to applause during a 20-minute speech attended by hundreds of concerned local residents participated.
“You have amazing instincts and common sense. There are 44,000 fish that have been killed, their animals are dying, you evacuate people because there are toxic chemicals in the air and then you tell everyone to come because it’s safe – that creates a lot of confusion.”
Brockovich said she hopes lessons can also be learned from the incident.
“This is a community where we may have that teaching moment to change lanes – no pun intended – and pay attention to becoming more protective of the future and becoming more proactive in dealing with this type of contamination, to just sit here and.” letting the disaster happen and then responding to it,” she said.
“I’ve been down here on the floor and they’re really frustrated. They feel that the administration doesn’t care what happened to the community. So it is very obvious that they are concerned and are not being seen or heard.
When asked by Carlson if she thought there was something the community wasn’t being told, Brockovich didn’t hesitate.
“44,000 fish are dead. We saw them out today. They aerate the streams, remove material. The wellheads are closed. What works?
“You have dead fish. This may not be good for humans. You have dead animals. Maybe not good for humans. You sent a terribly mixed message to this community. Drink the water, don’t drink the water. Sure, not sure. It’s terribly confusing and extremely frustrating for them,” Brockovich said.
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich speaks during an East Palestine High School town hall meeting Friday night about the Norfolk Southern freight train derailment February 3 in East Palestine, Ohio
Activist Erin Brockovich said it was unlike anything she’d seen in over 30 years of work, and empathized with audience frustration, who said it wasn’t a “quick fix.”
“I’m also here to tell you that Superman isn’t coming. No one is coming to change what happened to you, magically fix what happened to you, or give you all the answers,” Brockovich said to applause during a 20-minute speech
Over 3,500 fish have died in the immediate area because local residents believe it was toxic runoff
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich speaks to concerned residents as she hosted a town hall in eastern Palestine on Friday night
Hundreds of people attended the town hall meeting in East Paletstine, Ohio, on Friday night
Brockovich told residents, “This is not a quick fix. It’s going to be a long game.”
A resident of eastern Palestine listens as activist Erin Brockovich speaks during a town hall meeting
Earlier Friday, President Joe Biden directed federal authorities to go door-to-door in eastern Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the disaster.
On Biden’s order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Agency for Emergency Management will be visiting homes starting Saturday. Workers will ask how residents are doing, see what they need and connect them with appropriate resources from governments and nonprofits, the White House said.
The “walk teams” are modeled after similar teams after hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Biden instructed employees to reach as many homes as possible by Monday. Officials said the immediate goal is for at least 400 to visit. The president said he has no plans to visit Ohio in person at this time.
Meanwhile, the controversy spread far beyond the small Ohio town.
Officials in Texas and Michigan have expressed concern about contaminated sewage and soil being shipped to their states for disposal.
Biden’s order came as House Republicans opened an investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment, blaming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for a delayed response to the burning wreckage.
The focus on DOT came even though the EPA this week echoed the federal response, ordering the Norfolk Southern Railway to pay for chemical cleaning and release.
A preliminary report released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board says the crew of the Norfolk Southern freight train didn’t get much warning before dozens of cars went off the tracks, and there’s no indication the crew members did anything wrong.
Republicans portray the incident as a moral failure by the Biden administration, noting Buttigieg did not visit the site until almost three weeks after the wreck.
Democrats point to rollbacks made by former President Donald Trump during his tenure that have weakened rail and environmental regulations. EPO Administrator Michael Regan visited the site last week and again on Tuesday.
Biden on Friday dismissed the notion that his administration was not present at the delivery of aid.
“We were there two hours after the train left. Two hours,” Biden said at the White House. “I spoke to all the important figures in Pennsylvania and Ohio. And so the idea that we’re not engaged just isn’t there.
A huge plume of smoke from after the incident could be seen for miles
The toxic train derailed in a fire accident on February 3, prompting authorities to evacuate the surrounding area of East Palestine, Ohio
The dangerous chemicals released in the East Palestine train derailment
A train carrying a variety of toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3.
Some of these chemicals have since been released into the air or soil due to local residents’ concerns about the long-term health effects.
Chemicals released in the derailment include:
Vinyl chloride – rail operator Norfolk Southern said 10 cars burned vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. It’s a highly volatile colorless gas used to make polyvinyl chloride, a plastic used in plumbing, cables, bottles, and credit cards.
Symptoms of exposure to vinyl chloride include drowsiness, headache, and dizziness. Longer term effects can include cancer and liver damage.
Hydrogen Chloride – In an attempt to mitigate the effects of vinyl chloride, officials conducted a controlled explosion of the train cars, releasing hydrogen chloride.
The chemical is irritating and corrosive to any tissue it comes in contact with, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn.
Brief exposure can cause throat irritation, but exposure to higher levels can cause rapid breathing, constriction of the bronchioles, blue discoloration of the skin, fluid buildup in the lungs, and even death.
Phosgene – a chemical that was also released in the controlled explosion.
Like hydrogen chloride, phosgene irritates the skin, eyes and respiratory tract.
Common initial symptoms are mild irritation of the eyes and throat, with some coughing, choking, nausea, occasional vomiting, headache and chest tightness.
Phosgene poisoning can also cause respiratory and cardiovascular failure, low blood pressure, and fluid buildup in the lungs.
Ethylhexyl acrylate – a chemical carried on the train
It is a known carcinogen that can cause burning and irritation to the skin and eyes. Inhaling the substance can also irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing.
Isobutylene was also transported on the train.
Inhaling isobutylene can cause dizziness and drowsiness
Ethylene glycol mobobutyl was another substance shipped to Pennsylvania.
It can cause irritation of the eyes, skin, nose and nose, as well as hematuria (or blood in the urine), nervous system depression, headache and vomiting.
White House officials reached out to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office on Sunday, February 5, to offer additional federal assistance, the White House said in its most detailed report of the initial federal response to the wreck, which has resulted in round-clock news stories.
A timeline released by the White House on Friday says the DOT issued an “initial notification of incidents” to members of the Ohio congressional delegation and relevant committees on Saturday, Feb. 4, less than a day after the derailment.
On the same day, the EPA deployed real-time aerial surveillance tools at 12 locations around the wreck site and in the neighboring community, the White House said.
The oversight letter is requesting documents and notices of when DOT executives learned of the derailment and whether they received guidance on what the public response should be, as well as recent changes in the maintenance and procedures of the agency’s trains .
A day earlier, Buttigieg made his first visit to the crash site, hitting back at Trump, who had visited him the day before and criticized the federal response.
Buttigieg told reporters that if the former president — and current Republican presidential nominee — was a strong advocate for increased rail safety efforts, “among other things, he might be expressing his support for reversing the deregulation that took place under his oversight.”
On Friday, Buttigieg chided Comer for referencing the DOT’s National Transportation Safety Board in his letter, saying he was “disturbed to learn” that the committee chair “thinks the NTSB is part of our department.” NTSB is independent (and for good reason). Nevertheless, we will of course examine this fully and react appropriately.’
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized “political stunts that we see from the other side”.
Norfolk Southern said the NTSB report showed the train’s heat detectors were working as designed and the crew were operating “within company rules.” Still, the company said it needed to “learn as much as possible from this event” and “develop practices and invest in technology that could help prevent such an incident in the future.”
Among the boxcars that derailed in the outskirts of eastern Palestine near the Pennsylvania state line were 11 carrying hazardous materials. Residents were evacuated as fears of a possible explosion of smoldering debris grew.
Concerned about an uncontrolled explosion, officials released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five train cars, sending flames and black smoke shooting into the sky.
This led to people questioning possible health effects, despite authorities claiming they were doing their best to protect people.